The "Middle East and Terrorism" Blog was created in order to supply information about the implication of Arab countries and Iran in terrorism all over the world. Most of the articles in the blog are the result of objective scientific research or articles written by senior journalists.

From the Ethics of the Fathers: "He [Rabbi Tarfon] used to say, it is not incumbent upon you to complete the task, but you are not exempt from undertaking it."

Friday, June 24, 2016

Saudi Arabia in Iran's crosshairs - Dr. Reuven Berko

Faced with the existential threat
Iran poses to the region, the Arabs are realizing that Israel is not
the adversary and that resolving the Palestinian problem is a relatively
minor issue

The Saudi deputy crown
prince, Mohammed bin Salman, is currently in the United States
discussing his country's new economic plan to reduce dependency on oil
while improving its technological and military capabilities. In light of
the worsening tensions between Iran and Gulf states, chief among them
Saudi Arabia, Salman is undoubtedly carrying an urgent message of
distress to the U.S. administration.

For years now Iran has
waged a policy of destabilization and violence, aimed at taking control
of the Saudi Peninsula, instituting Shiite rule over the Islamic holy
sites in Mecca and Medina, dominating the oil market and its
transportation routes in the Persian Gulf, expelling the Americans and
the Saudis and pushing forward -- toward the rest of the world. In this
regard, Iran's relationship with Qatar and Oman is akin to a handler and
his agents. While these two countries supposedly represent the same
interests as other Sunni states, in reality Qatar is funding the Muslim
Brotherhood's efforts to undermine Arab regimes and incite against them
at Iran's behest through Al Jazeera. Oman, for its part, is "selling the
Arabs out" by mediating American-Iranian meetings on its soil.

The final objective of
Iran's slow but steady advance toward domination of the Persian Gulf --
which began years ago -- is Saudi Arabia. Meanwhile, the Saudis,
Egyptians and other Gulf states, who have gathered together under the
Gulf Cooperation Council, feel the Americans have chosen Iranian
hegemony -- as an alternative crisis-management option in the region --
over of the "headache inducing" Sunni Arab states that are torn between
conflicting interests and Islamist terrorist organizations fighting
amongst one another.

Ever since the removal
of Saddam Hussein, who served as a type of "anti-virus" to Iranian
machinations, Iran has increased its "pyromaniacal" activities
throughout the Middle East and even Africa. This activity is
characterized by subversion, destruction and blood. The Iranians are
igniting the flame in Iraq, Syria and Lebanon and are waging a terror
campaign in Yemen. They are active in Libya, Egypt and Gaza via
Hezbollah (which helped plan attacks on the Suez Canal in 2008), and
fund Sunni terrorist organizations like Hamas. Due to Sunni factionalism
and foolishness, focusing on Israel as an enemy, the disjointed Arab
states failed to deploy against Iran.

In the meantime, the
Iranians are concentrating their subversion efforts in Saudi Arabia,
Kuwait, Bahrain and UAE, inciting sedition among their respective Shiite
populations. In January 2016, the Saudis arrested 47 terrorists and
hanged their Shiite leader, Sheikh Nimr al-Nimr. In response, the
"Basij" (the ayatollah regime's paramilitary volunteer militia) torched
the Saudi embassies in Mashhad and Tehran. This past week, Bahrain
revoked the citizenship of the country's leading Shiite cleric,
Ayatollah Isa Qassim, who served as an emissary of Iran. In response to
this "crossing of a red line," Iran threatened to launch a regional war.
Iranian General Qassem Soleimani warned Bahrain's Sunni regime that its
"degradation" of citizens (the majority of whom are Shiites) would
ignite a bloody regional conflict. As expected, Hezbollah parroted the
Iranian condemnation while Saudi Arabia declared its support for
Bahrain's legal measures.

Faced with the existential threat
Iran poses to the region, the Arabs are realizing that Israel is not
the adversary and that resolving the Palestinian problem is a relatively
minor issue. In the meantime, the U.S. administration is struggling to
recognize radical Islam as a driving force behind global terrorism. It
also refuses to acknowledge Iran's expansionist and nuclear goals, and
its objectives regarding development of ballistic missiles. The dilemma
is indeed a difficult one, because the Iranian Shiite "virus" and the
"anti-virus" (Sunni Islamic radicalism) are equally dangerous to the
world.

Dr. Reuven BerkoSource: http://www.israelhayom.com/site/newsletter_opinion.php?id=16485 Follow Middle East and Terrorism on TwitterCopyright - Original materials copyright (c) by the authors.